Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1887-03-12

another, committeth adultery; and
whose marrieth her which is put
away doth commit adultery"
This passage teacbes:-1st, That
marriage is q divine institution. End,
That there can be no proper divorce
by human legislation, in church or
state, outside of the administration oil
the divine law. 3rd, That the Mosaic
law OF divorce was temporary and is
abrogated. 4th, That whoever obtains
IA divorce, except for tornication, and
marries again. is guilty OF adultery.
9th, That whoever marries a divorced
(may mean properly or improperly
person is guilty of adultery.
Mark 1O:2-12 is a parallel passage to
Matth. 1889, already quoted and dis
cussed. In Mark there is the same
teaching, eXcept:-1st, He does no
even specify tornication as a just cause
for divorce. End, Christ here declares,
in general terms, without qualifications,
that whoever marries, after a divorce,
is guilty of adultery. 3rd, The same
law is applied here to husbands and
wives.
Luke l6:1S:-"Whosoever putteth
away his wife and marrieth another
committeth adultery; and whosoever
imafrieth her that is put away from her
husband committeth adultery This
Teaches that the divorced person who
marries again is guilty Of adultery.
Rom. 7:2, ), "For the woman which
hath a husband is bound by the law to
her husband so long as he liveth; but
if the husband be dead she is loosed
from the law of her husband. So,
then, if while her husband liveth, she
be married to another man, she shall
be called an adulteress; but if her hus-
band be dead she is free from that law.
so that she is no adulteress though
she be married to another man." This
passage teaches that the obligations of
marriage are during the life of the
partner; that, accordingly, a second
marriage during the lifetime of a first
partner, is adultery; but that a second
marriage, after the death of the first
partner, is not adulterous.
We now take up the last and most
disputed passage. LIST Cor. 7:1O-l5,
"And unto the married / command,
yet not l but the Lord: Let not the
wife depart from her husband. but and
if she depart, let her remain unmarried,
or be reconciled to her husband; and
let not the husband put away his wife.
But to the rest, speak | not the Lord:
If any brother hath a wife that be-
lieveth not, and she be pleased to
dwell with him, let him not put her
away. And the woman which hath a
husband that believeth not, and if he
not leave him. For the uubelieving
husband is sauctified by the wife, and
the uubelieving wife is sauctitied by
the husband: else were your children
uuclean; but now are they holy. Bat
if the unbelieving depart, let him de
part. A brother or sister is not under
bondage in such cases; but God hath
called us to peace" This passage
teaches us the law of separation, first,
between Christian partners, and sec
ondly, between those who differ in re-
ligion. 1st. Between Christians, verses
10 and IL, We are taught that the one
partner should not leave the other; that,
if either should leave the other, the
%unleaving must remain unmarried, or
else be reconciled. ID. AS 10 mixed
marriages, verses 12-15, we are taught:
Isl. That they are allowable, at least
if conversion takes place after mar
rage. I'd. That it the unchristlan
partner depart, let him do so. Sd. That
if the unbelieyer depart, the believer is
released, from what? Neander says,
from the obligation to give up his reli-
gioD in order to retain the unbelieving
partner. Hodge, Dabney and others
say, from the Obligations of the
marriage bond. Olshausen, Bloom
field, CaImet, Buck and others
say, from the obligation to live
longer with the unbeliever. 1t seems
to me that this last view is correct
LIST. From the uniform teaching of the
Savior. He distinctly says that adul-
terry alone j%ustifies the dissolution OF
the marriage bond. I'd. From the
eleventh verse, where the apostle teach
es that, i'll the event of a separation,
the parties must remain unmarried
Sd. From verses Is and 16, where it is
plainly intimated that a reconciliation
may and ought to take place. 4th.
From the fact that, if one can marry
whenever the other leaves, the door is
thrown wide open for desertion on the
ground of cruelty, drunkenness, want
of support, incompatibiiity and every
thing else. But should the second vic ",
that of Hodge be true, we must con
slider, that Paul is careful, in verse II,
to say that he speaks mere without a
direct command from the Lord; that
he limits it to mixed marriages be-
ween Christians and heathen; and that,
in that age, desertion was universally
followed by the adulterous marriage Of
the deserving heather party.
The state legislature of Missouri Las
now before it a bill proposing TO limit
: the causes of divorce to adultery,
[ suppose that every Christian man,
and surely every Christian woman IN
the state, sympathizes with this move
ment and earnestly prays that the
proposed bill may become a law
For them, it is enough that Christ has
clearly declared that this cause alone
iustifies the separation Of those whom
God has joined together.
But there is Il respectable minorit,
III Missouri who are NOT Christians.
To them a confident appeal may Dt
made from the teachings of nature
and from the results, the sad results,
: OF the lax laws which prevail III oul
country on this subject. Let every
I man who loves his wife, as every mal
l on :ht 10 do and AS every true mal
, does, consider this question. Lee
: every woman, as she signs over he
wrongs i'll the past and looks hopetuli,